Action toy



Dec. 25, 1951 w. P. 1301-: ET AL I ACTION TOY Filed March 6, 1948INVENTORS Wa/cer R Doe, Les/12? IM 5/] BY fie/fman G 'fiishe'r M MATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 25, 1951 ACTION TOY Walter P. Doe, Leslie W.Sly, and Herman G. Fisher, East Aurora, N. Y., assignors to Fisher-Price Toys, 1110., East Aurora, N. Y.

Application March 6, 1948, Serial No. 13,397

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an improved action toyof the type having flexing body-simulating elements, and novel means foractuating such elements to provide :improved simulation of animal-likeactions.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved toy embodyingthe features aforesaid, wherein the operativeelements are also ofimproved structural simplicity and ruggedness.

Another object "of the invention is to provide an improved toy of thecharacter aforesaid which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture andfabricate.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in thespecification hereinafter.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a toy embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan thereof; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front elevation thereof.

The drawing illustrates the invention for example, as being embodied inan action toy simulating an animal of the elephant type, but it is to beunderstood that the invention is applicable with equal facility to toyshaving flexible moving parts simulating any other figures. Thus, thedrawing illustrates the toy to comprise a body portion In which may beinexpensively fashioned by jig-saw cutting wood or plastic or metal orany other suitable material to simulate the major body portion of thedepicted figure; and in this instance the body H) is formed with legsl2. Axes it are journaled in the bottom ends of the legs to extendtransversely between the paired front and rear legs, respectively; andwheels or rollers l5 mount upon the axes it so that the toy is therebyarranged to be pulled or pushed along any suitable supporting surface.

One of the axes i4 is formed with a crank portion I6 which is engaged bythe lower end of a connecting rod [8. The rod I8 extends upwardlythrough a suitably apertured portion l9 of the body block it, andconnects at its upper end upon a cantilever arm 26 which is fixed toextend laterally from a rocker shaft 22 which is journaled at itsopposite ends in the body block Hi. The shaft 22 is arranged to extendlongitudinally of the toy and beyond the front and rear end portions ofthe toy body. A tail piece 24 is fixed to the rear end of the shaft 22and a head piece-25 is fixed to the extending front end 1Claim.- (01.46-1 19) of the shaft. To enhance the natural appearance of the body parts,the head and tail pieces 24-25 are cut to smaller width dimensions thanthe body. I0, when seen in plan view. Thus, it will be understood thatupon rolling movement of the toy the traction wheels IE will drive thecrank shaft I6 so as to operate the connecting rod to cause the rockershaft 22 to oscillate in its bearings. Thus, the head and tail portions25-24 of the toy are caused to swing back and forth about the axis oftheshaft 22, thereby simulating headand tail swinging movements of thedepicted animal.

To further improve the appearance of the toy and to provide furtheranimal-like movements of the figure depicted, it is a feature of thepresent invention that the shoulders 26-26 at the juncture of the bodyand head portions be covered by movable flexible elements. Thus, asshown in the drawing flexible fabric flaps 30-30 may be fixed to thehead member, as by means of tacks 32, to overlie the shoulders 26-26;and preferably the members 39 are shaped to simulate some naturallyflexing member of the animal being depicted. Thus, in the case of thepresent drawing the members 36 are formed to simulate the flapping earsof an elephant, but it will be understood that the flexing members mayin the case of other toy forms be shaped to simulate other animal partssuch as wings, legs, feet, arms, ears, or any other physical features.

In any case, in accord with the present invention, a flexible flapdevice as at 36 will be fixed to one of the relatively moving bodyportions in such manner as to overlie the juncture therebetween and toresiliently bear against the other body member so that as the actuatingmechanism operates to oscillate one of the body members relative to theother the resilient flap member Will be thereby elastically deformed andmotivated so as to be given a novel twisting and flapping movement. Forexample, in the elephant type toy depicted in the drawing, the earmembers 36-30 are fixed to the head 25 in such manner as to extendrearwardly therefrom in resilient cantilever fashion, thereby bearingagainst the shoulder portions 26-26 of the body If], as shown in Fig. 2.However, upon twisting of the shaft 22 upon its axis, the head 25 iscaused to oscillate as explained hereinabove, whereby different portionsof the ear flaps 30-30 are brought to bear against the shoulders 26-26,thereby imparting to the flaps 3!] peculiar twisting and flappingmovements which realistically corner block form, to embody properlypropor tioned width-to-length dimensions, while the 7 head member 25 maybe similarly jig-saw cut from boards of suitable thickness so as toprovide a properly proportioned head; hile the resilient flap members3il3ll act to give the finished toy an overall streamlined appearancebecause of the fact that they overlie the shoulder corner portions 2626of the body block. Thus, the flaps 30-430 not only function with animproved flexing, ear fianpingsimulatin motion.

b also cov r the otherwise unrealistic nn in sharp should r cornerportions 26-45 of the block "I, and s reamline the juncture be ween thehead n ec an t e body block; thereby p viding a relatively inexpensivelymanufactured toy having n improved action nd overall apn erence- Asexplain d herei above, th fl xi l s elements of the toy of the inventionmay assume any required shape or form such as to imitate some limb orother extending'feature portion of the figure depicted in the toy,according to the style of the toy; and in any case the flexible elementswill be, actuated in, the manner of the present invention by means of asuitably arranged adjacent oscillating portion of the toy.

4 Therefore, it will be understood that although only one form of theinvention has been shown and described in detail it will be apparent tothose skilled in the art that the invention is not so limited but thatvarious changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit ofthe invention or the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In. an action toy, a body member having an end wall portion, anaccessory member mounted upon said body to oscillate thereon about anaxis directed substantially normal to said end wall,

-means to cause said accessory member to oscillate relative to said bodymember, and a flexible flap membersimulating a feature of the figuredepicted by the toy, said flap member being fixed to one of said membersso as to overlie the juncture between said body member and saidaccessory member while bearing against said body end wall portion,whereby upon oscillation of said accessory member said flap member isdisplaced by the changing relationship of saidbody and flap member andcausedto twist and flap.

WALTER P. DOE. LESLIE W.. SLY. HERMAN G. FISHER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 21,699,139 Fuld Jan. 15, 19292,001,482 Beerline May 14, 1935 2,102,335 Richards Dec. 14, 19372,382,537 Beaver Aug. 14, 1945

